A Texas man accused of falsely claiming to be a doctor doing research to trick a Middlebury college student into allowing him to do a supposed cervical screening has been sentenced to the nearly four years he already served behind bars on a child porn charge.
Nam Vu Bui’s legal troubles didn’t end with the sentencing hearing held Monday in federal court in Burlington. The conclusion of the Vermont case is expected to clear the way for Bui to be taken to Houston, Texas, where he was living before his arrest in Middlebury in the fall of 2016.
In Texas, Bui was charged in March 2019 with four counts, including sexual exploitation or a child and possession child pornography.
In Vermont, Judge William K. Sessions III sentenced Bui, of Houston, Texas, on Monday to 44 months in prison, which is how long he has been behind bars since his arrest in the fall of 2016 in Middlebury.
The time-served prison term of 44 months fell within the advisory federal sentencing guideline range for Bui that was calculated at 41 to 51 months, the judge said.
Both Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Masterson, a prosecutor in the case, and Lisa Shelkrot, Bui’s lawyer, supported the 44-month, time-served sentence.
“We agree with the court that a time-served sentence under these circumstances is appropriate,” Masterson told the judge.
In addition, Sessions also sentenced Bui to five years of probation following his eventual release from prison.
The child porn case in Vermont against Bui dates back to October 2016 when police were investigating him for reportedly sexually assaulting a student in a dorm room at Middlebury College. During that investigation, according to court filings, officers seized a cellphone belonging to Bui and discovered child porn on it.
At that time, court filings stated, Bui had been at Middlebury College visiting his girlfriend, who was a student at the college. That girlfriend had believed that Bui worked as a doctor at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
However, according to the police, Bui was not a doctor or enrolled in a medical program. He asked friends of his girlfriend to allow him to conduct exams on them in exchange for $1,000 as part of a research experiment related to cervical cancer, court filings stated.
At least one woman, police said, allowed Bui conduct an exam in her dorm room before she contacted police and his ruse was discovered.
Bui had been charged in state court in October 2016 with several offenses, including illegal practice of medicine, voyeurism, sexual assault, and a state charge of possessing child pornography.
Those charges were eventually dropped to clear the way for the federal prosecution.
In court Monday, Bui agreed to return to Houston, Texas, and face the federal charges against him there. Those charges all date back to incidents in 2015 when he lived in Houston, Texas, before he traveled to Vermont in 2016.
In a move to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the hearing Monday took place with the parties appearing via video, including Bui from inside prison.
Bui told the judge that his silence throughout the almost four years of the pending case was not due to “indifference” or “apathy” on his part.
He talked of work he has done behind bars to help himself and other inmates, including assisting prisoners obtain their GEDs.
“I realized also that I’ve learned to be humble,” he said. “I don’t need public recognition or a pat on the back.”
Bui added, “I realized that I could still do good even in challenging conditions behind bars.”
Sessions also spoke of the work Bui has done to rehabilitate himself.
“It seems,” the judge told Bui, “that you are a young man who has incredible talent, extraordinary talent, and has commitment to do something with that talent in the future once this episode is all resolved.”
In addition to the judge, Bui spoke to the other parties, those at the hearing as well as elsewhere.
“I want to pray for everyone that I’ve encountered on this odyssey, whether it’s your honor and my esteemed counsel, attorneys for the government,” he said. “Last but not least, my mother who is 74 and suffering massively due to this.”
Bui then added some parting words.
“I’m sorry for the indignities that I may have caused against this great nation and those who live in it,” he said, “But may God bless you all.”
Sessions responded, “I appreciate your comments.”
